Sunday, 12 October 2014

We’ve been going
through quite a bit of gin recently. Mrs Cake has grown fond of the odd gin and
tonic and that combination has become her standard drink for taking to parties,
so I’ve quickly gone from never having
bought a bottle to… having now bought a few bottles. I don’t think I’ve
made any secret of my apathy for this particular spirit thus far, but a spirit
it is, and therefore not undeserving of some attention on these pages.

Now, the last bottle
I bought was the Plymouth brand and admittedly, it was the result of some
woefully shoddy mental arithmetic on my part (particularly for someone who
works in accounts – shhh…) concerning
a certain cross-spirits offer that
was on at Tesco that day. I didn’t mind though because I didn’t have to buy
Gordon’s, and for my money (£20.30, I believe it was) I got a litre of gin at
an encouraging 41.2% ABV. We tried it almost straight away, and agreed that it
was… all right.

Moving on, and a
short while later it was time to gin up once more. This time Mrs Cake and I
agreed between us that she should buy it, since as I say, she drinks most of
it. We happened to be in Aldi, and though we’ve had it before, we decided to
try the multi award winning Oliver
Cromwell – Aldi’s finest. It’s only £9.49 for the obligatory 70cl.

First test was head
to head gin and tonics. Like the drinks themselves, the results were mixed. Mrs
Cake preferred the one made with Aldi’s finest while I preferred the one made
with Plymouth – expensive tastes. As expected though, there wasn’t much to
choose, and consequently I still haven’t found any definitive reason for
spending all that much money on gin.

I moved on – this
time ably assisted by Mrs Cake, as opposed to being joined by her – to doing a neat gin test. This time I figured we
may as well go blind, so I asked Mrs Cake to do the pouring for me. Without
keeping you in too much suspense; I was able to correctly identify that sample
A was the Plymouth. It was sweeter both on the nose and on the palate, though
only marginally. The most noticeable difference was the strength. Plymouth
holds a 3.7% advantage over the Cromwell, and it shows – not that the Cromwell
is unpleasant, it just tastes watery by comparison.

As ever, it leaves
you with the question of value; is the extra strength and a very slightly preferable taste worth
that extra £10? It depends what you intend to use it for. If you’re going to
drink it neat, you need the extra strength and flavour in my opinion. If it is
for mixing though, which so much of the market of gin seems to be, I can’t see
the justification. You pays your money, you takes your choice. So you decide.

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.